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• Childermas
  Childermas

  noun

  Holy Innocents' Day.
• childermas
  childermas

  noun

  Holy Innocents Day, Dec 28

Childermas

American  

[chil-der-muhs] / ˈtʃɪl dər məs /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. Holy Innocents' Day.

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childermas British  

/ ˈtʃɪldəˌmæs /

noun

1. archaic Holy Innocents Day, Dec 28

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Etymology

Origin of Childermas

before 1000; Middle English chyldermasse, equivalent to Old English cildra (genitive plural of cild child ) + mæsse Mass

Example Sentences

And not only among the Romans and Jews, but also among Christians, a like custom of observing such days is used, especially Childermas or Innocent's day.

From Miscellanies Upon Various Subjects by Aubrey, John

Childermas was there called Dyzemas and a saying ran: “What is begun on Dyzemas Day will never be finished.”

From Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Miles, Clement A.

In the Prologue to the Miracle Play, Childermas Day, 1512, the minstrels are requested to 'do their diligence,' and at the end of the Play to 'geve us a daunce.'

From Shakespeare and Music With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries by Naylor, Edward W. (Edward Woodall)

It was to be christened Holy Innocents' Church on Childermas Day, was it not?

From Cinderella in the South Twenty-Five South African Tales by Cripps, Arthur Shearly

These Childermas festivities took place in monastic as well as in secular churches, but they seem to have been more common in nunneries than in male communities.

From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen